Spring Startup Woes

[Dirty Dave]

After a long battle with the 79 Wing I was finally successful last season. Ran beautifully.
Proper storage with non-ethanol gas, topped up and float bowls drained, looking forward
to riding my baby again.

I guess 5 months storage is just too long. Hard to start and seems running on 2
cylinders. Gas leaking from #1 float bowl. Runs on all 4 in higher revs but....

as soon as I turn the petcock on full, the engine dies. Full carb rebuild last year with
proper float height adjusted. Gas leaking outta exhaust.

Only winter mod was converting to MOSFET rectifier/regulator.



Ya gotta give it to EFI bikes. You just ride 'em.

[5speed]

I store my 82 for as long us you do and the only issue I've ever had was cranking it until the float bowls fill up.
I'm no goldwing carb expert but between the raw gas coming out of the exhaust and it dying when you turn the fuel on all the way it sounds like you have a stuck float or more..it runs when you rev it up because it's able to deal with the extra gas.
I'd gently tap the float bowls a few times and see if that fixes it.

[Fred Camper]

And do check the spark to be sure it is strong on both coils.

[CYBORG]

I start mine every weeekend, all winter. Coming up to temp, and chaanging up from idle to about 3000 several times. Do it every year, with no running problems in the sprng. Easier then going thru the carbs every spring

[Dirty Dave]

I tapped the float bowl on #1 which was leaking to no avail.

Maybe get the float bowls off to see if I can loosen the floats.
I hate frigging with the throttle cables with another cleaning.

I checked for spark (OK). Even swapped out the Dyna S just for fun.

[Rednaxs60]

Have to do this: Fuel Injection, Fuel Injection, Ra-Ra-Ra! It's early morning here!

[Dirty Dave]

Really early in B.C. Wow.

Carbs off. #2 full of gas at head. Valves must be closed. #4 not far behind.
Good to be wrenching again although unfortunate circumstance.
Will be poking around the carbs now. They've probably been off
the Wing as often as on...........

[pidjones]

Get a set of locking hemostats - really help with the throttle cables. And, hook them up before putting the rack fully in place.

[Dirty Dave]

Thanks for the tip.

I have a set of hemostats my nurse sister gave me 50+ years ago.
Great for many things.

Dunno, Iv'e tried many tricks to hook the cables back up. Always
seems that cursing works best.....

Busy trying to make sure the float valves seat correctly. They did last year.
Little bit of fine debris was in the bottom of the float bowls.
Had to be really fine to get past two filters.

[gltriker]

---POST#10


Hi Dave! - and whoever else additionally Reads, Understands and Follows my Instructions.

Turn the carburetors *rack* upside down, with all 4 float bowls removed. see attached photos and VIDEO
If you have a carburetor Pressure Tester air pump, a Sphygmomanometer, ( even a turkey baster bulb per Dave ) handy, attach its rubber hose to the *rack* fuel inlet hose barb fitting and squeeze the air pump plunger or rubber bulb to pressure test the sealing integrity of all 4 float valves in one fell swoop.

Utilizing a vacuum pump doesn't cut it for accuracy when leak testing a normally very low pressurized carburetor float valve needle and seat.

When the inverted *rack* is pressurized as I have directed, and all 4 float valve needles and seat combos are working correctly together, they should not allow less than 7psi air pressure to blow-by; the oring which seals the OD of the brass seat with the carburetor bòdy will be verified, too. NOTE: This is presuming the plenum seal AND all 4 plenum-to- carb seals are intact,too !

note: 7psi is a reasonable minimum number based upon my many years pressure testing diaphragm type carburetors.
I offer up that suggestion because it revealed the cause of a very small float valve needle leakage situation present when I pressure tested a GL1000 "rack"; exactly same as I have presented the process in this post.

Tests All the various sealing components up to each of the 4 float valves.
(in addition to the 4 individual float valve sets' sealing integrity, the Plenum seal, and all 4 plenum -to- carburetor flange D rings are verified, as well )

Prior to this unique testing session, I had utilized a McCulloch carburetor pressure testing tool I had acquired in the early 70s, until I wore out its rubber bulb.
To remedy the worn out McCulloch tool situation, I eventually purchased a miniature version of a carburetor Pressure Tester Pump Assembly from an Amazon listing several years ago, It's the green anodized air pressure pump with 0-30psi pressure gauge pictured in both photographs and VIDEO, too.
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20201107_140627.jpg (82.56 KiB) Viewed 593 times

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Yes, 25psi is extremely excessive. I absolutely had to see, though, how much applied air pressure the "rack" would resist.
Look at the gauge..25psi and it held there .
When I lifted a float to release that extreme pressure PFISST!! , the tester's gauge needle rapidly dinged the 0psi stop and now reads ~5psi. c'est la vie
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20240407_140640 - 5psi error.jpg (82.68 KiB) Viewed 16 times

AGAIN -watch the VIDEO. The link is immediately below this photograph.

20201107_135940.jpg (65.35 KiB) Viewed 593 times

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vvvvvvvv VIDEO vvvvvvvv

20201109_090246_2226467060246 (1).mp4

(19.8 MiB) Downloaded 54 times

Watch My *Rack* Pressure Testing Video up there

[Sidecar Bob]

It's March and you are already taking it out of storage? Maybe it just didn't like to be awakened so early

The worst spring startup issue I remember was the year I took mine out of storage in the end of February (long story) and the starter motor had decided its time was up. I chased battery problems for a week before I realized that wasn't why it wouldn't crank.

[Dirty Dave]

Wow again. Thanks for that gltriker. So much cool knowledge !

Just saw your post now. Had the carbs off and apart and back on after
confirming float levels, clean jets etc.

Having a stiff drink. Ran crappy but ran. Perhaps gas got into the oil raising the level
and contaminating plugs & leaking outta the exhaust. Drained & cleaned plugs. Will
try again when I have the energy.

Thank you for the tutorial.

(BTW I do have a Sphygmomanometer)

[Dirty Dave]

Sidecar Bob,

I had wanted to test my regulator upgrade and assumed (yeah I know) the Wing
was gonna run fine, just as it did last year. Electricals 100% but yunno the rest.

This Wing is a full time job. Keeps me busy when I'm not riding something
reliable. (ouch)

[Sidecar Bob]

There is no direct connection between the crankcase (where the oil is) and the cylinders (where the plugs are) except past the rings. Gas coming out of the exhaust usually means gas in one or more cylinder that is expelled when the exhaust valve opens.
Gas in a cylinder usually means that something is wrong with either 1) a carb float (sticking or adjusted high), 2) a float valve not closing fully (usually debris keeping it from shutting) or 3) on 4 cylinder 'Wings a bad carb to plenum seal allowing the fuel to escape onto the floor of the plenum and flow from there through the carb throat and out the other side and into the cylinder via the intake valve.

When gas gets into the oil it is usually from one of those 3 scenarios letting fuel into a cylinder and some of it percolating past the end gaps of the piston rings.

BTW, I prefer to drain all fuel out of both the carbs and the tank and not put more in until it is time to use the beast again. water can get into your tank when filling up in the rain of from condensation due to damp air entering the tank when you ride on a humid day among other opportunities and when it does it sits on the bottom of the tank because it is heavier than gasoline. If you drain the tank for storage that water will evaporate but if you never empty the tank the water on the bottom will eventually find another way out of the tank.
I've seen too many tanks that rotted out at the bottom because they were left for years without draining, not to mention that in a few years the gasoline itself turns to gel and eventually hardens into "varnish" and when you store a bike for winter you never know if something will happen to prevent you from putting it back on the road in the spring (my 'Wing's PO had an accident at work that broke both his ankles and I am grateful that he emptied the tank before it sat for the next 10 years).

Testing something you've worked on is one thing but running the engine every so often during winter does more harm than good. It mostly wastes fuel and pollutes the air but also unless you run it under load it won't really be thoroughly warmed so whatever moisture & unburned fuel got past the rings before they got warm won't be expelled either.
(The way I treat my winter bike these days is only marginally better because most of my trips don't get it fully warmed up so I try to make sure I get it outside of town to let it run at speed every couple of weeks.)

[gltriker]

Wow again. Thanks for that gltriker. So much cool knowledge !

Just saw your post now. Had the carbs off and apart and back on after
confirming float levels, clean jets etc.

Having a stiff drink. Ran crappy but ran. Perhaps gas got into the oil raising the level
and contaminating plugs & leaking outta the exhaust. Drained & cleaned plugs. Will
try again when I have the energy.

Thank you for the tutorial.

(BTW I do have a Sphygmomanometer) hemostats? Check! sphygmomanometer? Check!

you are welcome.

Download the video file I placed under the 2 photos and take a look at what the pressure tester accomplishes.
There are several rubber sealing components that can fail between the inlet hose barb fitting and cause a person to mistakenly blame a float valve needle and seat as the culprit.